Negotiating is not fighting. It is explaining what your price includes and what it does not. In France the person across the table is often an agency that negotiates every day, while you negotiate three times a month. That asymmetry is offset by preparation.

Before the conversation

Set three numbers and do not change them during the call: your ideal price, your acceptable price and your floor, below which you say no.

Without that floor written down, any pressure lowers it.

The four answers that protect your price

"That is a lot for us."

Do not lower the price: lower the scope. "I can do that amount with two videos instead of three." The price per piece stays intact.

"The next campaign will be bigger."

It almost never is. "Great, when that project comes we can look at volume pricing. Let us close this one at list price."

"Another creator charges us half."

Answer with what your delivery includes: three hooks, proofread subtitles, delivery in five working days, a clear licence. Comparing is not matching.

"Can we also use it in advertising?"

This is the one that leaves the most money on the table. "Yes, the advertising licence is quoted separately, thirty to a hundred per cent extra depending on duration."

The request specific to French agencies

It almost always arrives in this form: "our client requires a perpetual, all media, worldwide rights assignment". Presented as a standard, non negotiable clause.

It is indeed standard in their contracts. That does not make it free.

The right answer is not to refuse, it is to price it: "No problem, a perpetual worldwide assignment is invoiced at this amount, on a separate line." A serious agency finds that normal, because it is exactly what they invoice their own client for.

The tax detail

Always state "prices before tax" and, if you are under the VAT exemption, include the corresponding wording. A three hundred euro quote misunderstood turns into an awkward conversation at invoicing.

How to raise your rate

Apply the new price to new clients and wait two or three months. Once demand is stable, tell recurring clients a month in advance.

The best moment to raise is September, when end of year budgets are being decided.

When to say no

When they want advertising rights without paying for them. When the brief changes three times before you start. When they propose working for free "as a test". And when the price falls below your floor.

Where to go next

Negotiating well rests on a portfolio that justifies the price. Our guide on how to become a UGC creator explains how to build one.